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Body Found of Arkansas Native, Focus of Recent Search

A family member says the body of 22-year-old John Wood, Jr was found this (Monday) morning. According to a post on the Facebook page “Help Bring John Wood Jr Home”, the body was found at approximately 10:30am this (Monday) morning.

Wood had been the focus of a recent multi-state search. The young man was last seen at his home in Calhoun, Georgia, as he was preparing to move to be closer to his father near Jonesboro in Northeast Arkansas. Authorities had also been searching for Wood’s pickup truck, a 1997 blue and sliver Dodge Ram. A family spokesman says Wood had planned to meet with his landlord in Georgia for a final walk-through and to collect his rental deposit on Thursday, July 27th, before leaving.

Police were also searching for a gold or tan colored van with Georgia license plate “PCS3475″ in the vicinity of his house in Calhoun. A neighbor had said two men were attempting to enter Wood’s residence, but left abruptly when approached. Family members say multiple calls to Wood’s cell phone had gone directly to his voice-mail…and that his landlord had entered the home to find all of Wood’s belongings still in place.

No further details were available. Updates can be found on the family’s search page…

UPDATE: Wood’s body was apparently found early Sunday morning. Here is information released by Georgia authorities…

On Monday, July 28, John Wesley Wood, age 22, of 373 Baker Road, Calhoun, was reported missing to the Gordon County Sheriff’s Office by his family. They reported that Wood was scheduled to leave Calhoun to return to Arkansas to live with his father. They also reported seeing two suspi-cious men and a suspicious vehicle at Wood’s apartment on July 24, the last day that Wood was seen. A witness had seen the suspicious men and vehicle, and copied down a license plate number. Wood’s apartment was searched by deputies, who found no signs of a struggle inside or any other signs of violence. Neighbors were questioned as witnesses, family members were questioned for any potential leads, social me-dia outlets were explored, investigative detectives requested intelligence reports from the GBI, and Mr. Wood was entered into the nationwide GCIC database a missing person.

Detectives were following the lead on the license plate, which was from the metro Atlanta area, Friday afternoon, Aug. 1, when a witness came forward with information which led deputies to believe that foul play could’ve been involved in Wood’s disappearance. This information developed into a number of other independent leads rapidly, and teams of detectives were deployed to follow each one. A GBI agent was also requested and assigned to assist the sheriff’s detectives. About two dozen potential witnesses were identified and questioned over the course of the next 48 hours. Late Friday night, a “person of interest” was arrested near a private residence on Craigtown Road by undercover deputies who’d been surveying the home for several hours. This individual at-tempted to flee and resist arrest, but was apprehended and incarcerated. Several items of physical evidence were also located and collected.

Sunday evening, Aug. 3, a potential witness contacted the sheriff with fresh information which was soon corroborated by other statements and physical evidence which was known to the detectives and GBI agents.

At approximately 1 a.m. Sunday morning, Aug. 4, deputy sheriffs located a badly decomposed body in a heavily wooded area just off a field road on a local farm in north-western Gordon County. The sheriff’s office and the GBI have reason to believe that the body is that of John Wesley Wood Jr., although positive identification is pending examination by the GBI State Crime Laboratory in Decatur. Investigating detectives and GBI agents believe that Wood was killed during the late hours of Thursday, July 24, or the very early morning hours of July 25.

This morning, the Gordon County sheriff’s air unit located Wood’s missing pick-up truck in a remote area in southern Whitfield County. The truck has been removed and taken to the sheriff’s office where it will be examined for evidence.

Crime scene technicians from both the sheriff’s office and the GBI are today executing search warrants at multiple locations where they expect to identify and collect additional physical evidence.

As of this time, Nathan Michael Mahan, 29, of 708 Lick Creek Road, Ranger, has been charged with murder, robbery, parole violation and obstructing law enforcement officers and Lelion L Siskey, 28, of Craigtown Road, Calhoun, has been charged with murder in connection with this investigation.

‘Deputy sheriffs and GBI agents are still seeking Nathan Mark Neighbors, age 22, date of birth Oct. 10, 1991, who is 6-feet-1-inch tall and weighs 150 pounds. He has short, brown hair, green eyes and multiple tattoos, including two teardrop tattoos near his left eye. Neighbors is wanted on murder and robbery charges.